HIGHLIGHTS OF

NATIONAL
EDUCATION
POLICY 2020
29nd July, 2020
Rishihood University
SCHOOL
EDUCATION
SCHOOL EDUCATION

EARLY CHILDHOOD CARE AND EDUCATION (ECCE)

ECCE will be to ensure that all children entering Grade 1 are school ready.

It will be delivered through:

(a) stand-alone Anganwadis

(b) Anganwadis co-located with primary schools
(c) pre-primary schools co-located with existing primary schools
(d) stand-alone pre-schools

Teachers will be upskilled on early childhood education.

What's different?
ECCE will be formalized into a national framework.
SCHOOL EDUCATION

FOUNDATIONAL LITERACY & NUMERACY

Students are not able to keep a pace with the grade in which they are studying. The gap starts
developing in early years due to a lack of foundational training. This will be overcome through:
Capacity building of teachers
Involving volunteers and civil society
Peer-tutoring for foundational literacy
3-month orientation to ensure the kids are ready to enter the first grade and don't fall behind

What's different?

A large-scale effort to ensure children develop a basic level of literacy and numeracy so that
they can make most of the rest of the learning in upcoming years.
SCHOOL EDUCATION

UNIVERSAL ACCESS TO EDUCATION

Universal access to education to be provided till Grade 12

It will be made easier to start a school
PPP in school education will be piloted
Students who drop out will be brought back

What's different?

Availability of universal education increased from age 14 to age 18;

Regulations to focus on learning outputs rather than inputs (infrastructure etc)
SCHOOL EDUCATION

CURRICULUM & PEDAGOGY (5+3+3+4)

HIGH SCHOOL four years of secondary

stage (classes nine to 12)

What's different?
three years of middle stage
MIDDLE (classes six to eight) Shift of focus from memorization to
'learning how to learn'
increased flexibility and choice of
PREPARATORY three years of preparatory subjects to study
stage (classes three to five) no hard separation among ‘curricular’,
‘extra-curricular’, or ‘co-curricular’

five years of foundational stage

FOUNDATION (three years of pre-primary
school and classes one and two)
SCHOOL EDUCATION

MULTILINGUALISM
Students learn best in their home language. To facilitate this,

medium of instruction till Grade 5 will be home language

the home language will be continued to be taught later
teachers will be encouraged to use bilingual approach
Simple Standard Sanskrit (SSS) will be introduced for junior classes

What's different?

Textbooks and curriculum to have a local flavor

High quality books in all languages
Bilingual approach to ensure students can learn
the subject in English as well as home language
when they reach senior classes
SCHOOL EDUCATION

SCHOOL EXAM REFORMS

State School Examinations in classes three, five and eight to continuously track students’ progress 
National Testing Agency to develop a Common Aptitude Test for university admissions
Modular and semester-wise board exams may be developed

What's different?

The need for 'coaching classes' and cracking an exam to be phased out

Board exams will focus on core capacities rather than memorization
Board exams can be taken twice a year
SCHOOL EDUCATION

SPECIAL TALENTS

Students with special talents will be nurtured and facilitated.

Project-based clubs will be highly encouraged such as Science Circles, Math Circles, Music Performance
Circles, Chess Circles, Poetry Circles, Language Circles, Drama Circles, Debate Circles, Sports Circles,
and so on.
SCHOOL EDUCATION

TEACHERS
Scholarships for teacher training
Incentives for teaching jobs in rural areas
Schools cab hire local eminent persons or experts as ‘specialized instructors’ in areas such as
traditional local arts, vocational crafts, entrepreneurship, agriculture
Merit-based promotions for teachers through National Professional Standards for Teachers
(NPST). Promotions will not occur based on the length of tenure or seniority, but on the basis of
such appraisals

What's different?

Excessive teacher transfers will be halted

Sharing of teachers can be considered across schools
Teachers will not be involved in electioneering, cooking of midday meals,
and other strenuous administrative tasks
Each stage of school (foundation, preparatory etc) will have opportunities of
promotion rather than going from one stage to the other
SCHOOL EDUCATION

TEACHER EDUCATION

4-year integrated B.Ed program will be minimum degree qualification for teaching by 2030
2-year and 1-year B.Ed programs will be intended only for those who have already obtained
Bachelor’s Degrees in other specialized subjects

What's different?

Teacher education will move to multidisciplinary colleges and universities rather than
standalone B.Ed colleges
Thousands of substandard standalone Teacher Education Institutions (TEIs) across the
country will be shut down as soon as possible.
SCHOOL EDUCATION

SCHOOL COMPLEXES

Smaller schools will become complexes or clusters to enable resource sharing

Libraries, science laboratories and equipment, computer labs, sports facilities and
equipment, as well as human resources can be shared
Improved support for children with disabilities, special talents, special subjects etc.
HIGHER
EDUCATION
HIGHER EDUCATION

MULTIDISCIPLINARY EDUCATION

Research Universities (RUs) will

RU largely focus on research

Teaching Universities (TUs) will place greater

TU emphasis on teaching; would also conduct
significant research

Affiliated colleges will become degree-granting

AC autonomous colleges (ACs)

What's different?
By 2040, all higher education institutions (HEIs) shall become multidisciplinary institutions and shall
have student enrollments in the thousands, for optimal use of infrastructure and resources
HIGHER EDUCATION

CREDITS, RESEARCH AND STUDY

CREDIT AND DEGREE STRUCTURE:

Multiple entry and exit points in a degree, enabling lifelong education
Academic Bank of Credit (ABC) for credits earned from various recognized HEIs
A student can obtain a diploma after completing 1 year, advanced diploma after completing 2
years or a Bachelors degree after 3 years. However, a 4-year program will be preferred

RESEARCH:
For those who have done a 3-year bachelor degree, a 2-year masters with 2nd year on research
For those who have done a 4-year bachelor degree, a 1-year masters will be made available
Integrated 5 years masters programs will be created
Masters or 4-year Bachelor with research can lead to PhD entrance
M.Phil will be phased out
HIGHER EDUCATION

INTERNATIONALIZATION

High performing Indian universities will be encouraged to set up

campuses in other countries
Select universities (e.g., those from among the top 100
universities in the world) will be permitted to operate in India
Credits acquired in foreign universities will also be permitted to
be counted for the award of a degree.
VOCATIONAL EDUCATION

MAINSTREAMING OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION

By 2025, at least 50% of learners through the school and higher education
system shall have exposure to vocational education
The B.Voc. degrees introduced in 2013 will continue to exist, but vocational
courses will also be available to students enrolled in all other Bachelor’s degree
programs
A 'National Committee for the Integration of Vocational Education (NCIVE)',
will oversee this
Indian standards will be aligned with the International Standard Classification of
Occupations maintained by the International Labour Organization.

What's different?

Schools and colleges will teach vocational education as part of the regular curriculum
HIGHER EDUCATION

NATIONAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION

NRF will provide a reliable base of merit-based

peer-reviewed research funding
Successful research will be recognized, and
implemented through close linkages with
governmental agencies as well as with industry
HIGHER EDUCATION

GOVERNANCE
All institutions shall become independent self-governing institutions governed by a Board of
Governors (BoG)
A single regulator, the National Higher Education Regulatory Authority (NHERA), will be set up
Independent of accrediting bodies will be allowed, supervised by 'National Accreditation
Authority (NAA)'
General Education Council (GEC) shall be set up to frame expected learning outcomes
Higher Education Grants Commission (HEGC) will be created to take care of funding
Public and private institutions shall be treated on par within this regulatory regime

What's different?

Independent governance of institutions rather than political and bureaucratic interference

Regulatory bodies will have different functions (funding, accreditation, curricular frameworks etc)
rather than multiple bodies for different academic areas (architecture, engineering, etc)
ADULT EDUCATION

ADULT EDUCATION

Adult education curriculum framework will be developed for

foundational literacy and numeracy
critical life skills (including financial literacy, digital literacy, commercial skills, health care and
awareness, child care and education, and family welfare)
vocational skills development (with a view towards obtaining local employment)
basic education (including preparatory, middle, and secondary stage equivalency)
continuing education

Schools in after-school hours, libraries etc. to be used for adult education

INDIAN LANGUAGES, ART & CULTURE

Traditional Indian knowledge (including tribal and other local knowledge), across the humanities,
sciences, arts, crafts, and sports, will be included in the curriculum
HEIs shall have strong departments with adequate expertise and design programs in Indian
languages, comparative literature, creative writing, arts, philosophy, archaeology etc.
Every higher education institution and even every school or school complex will aim to have
Artist(s)-in-Residence to expose students to art, creativity, and the rich treasures of the country

ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE
Every higher education institution and even every school or school
complex will aim to have Artist(s)-in-Residence to expose students
to art, creativity, and the rich treasures of the country
TECHNOLOGY

National Educational Alliance for Technology (NEAT) will be created

for educational technology solutions
educational software will be developed and made available for
students and teachers at all levels.
Universities will offer PhD and Masters programs in core areas (such
as Machine Learning) as well as multidisciplinary fields (“AI + X”) and
professional areas (healthcare, agriculture and law)
IMPLEMENTATION
MHRD is renamed to Ministry of Education

Rashtriya Shiksha Aayog (RSA) & Rajya Shiksha Aayog (RjSA) will be
apex advisory bodies at national and state level
A permanent Indian Education Service (IES) cadre comprising a
specialist cadre of the bureaucracy will be created
Educational spending to reach 6% of the GDP as soon as possible
THANK YOU

Rishihood School of Education

Rishihood University
Sonipat, Delhi NCR, India

www.rishihood.edu.in

namaste@rishihood.edu.in